Washington, D.C. – Senate Energy & Natural Resources Chairman Pete V. Domenici today affirmed his interest in including a clean and renewable portfolio standard in the bipartisan energy bill the committee will mark-up later this spring. The committee today held a hearing on RPS efforts among states and the costs and benefits of a federal RPS standard. The senators also heard testimony regarding new approaches to promoting clean power resources, including wind, nuclear, solar and clean coal energies. Chairman Domenici made the following statement during the hearing: Senator Bingaman has long been an advocate of a federally-mandated Renewable Portfolio Standard that requires retail suppliers of electricity to obtain up to 10% of their electricity from renewable resources like wind, solar, geothermal and other traditional renewable energies. While that kind of RPS has received over 50 votes on the Senate floor in the past, it does not fly on the House side. Assistant Secretary Garman’s written testimony makes it clear that the Administration opposes this kind of RPS. I think it’s time to explore an expanded portfolio standard that would mandate a broader array of clean fuels. I think a portfolio standard should go beyond wind, solar and geothermal energy to include renewable energy like hydropower and clean alternatives such as coal gasification, clean coal, nuclear energy and, finally, credits for achieving new levels of efficiency and conservation. Today, 19 states, including Senator Bingaman’s and my home state of New Mexico, have their own unique versions of a portfolio program tailored to the resources available in these states. For example, wind resources are scarce and costly in the southeast according to witnesses today. A mandate that heavily favors wind could sharply drive up energy costs in that region. I consider unacceptable any federal program that forces ratepayers in one region to subsidize specially-favored resources from another region. I expect my energy bill to increase and diversify supply and stabilize energy prices – not drive up energy costs in one part of the country to subsidize energy in another region. I also want to see a portfolio standard that balances fuel diversification and states’ rights. As part of the effort to develop a bipartisan energy bill, I hope that Senator Bingaman and I -- as well as all the Members – will work together on a new approach to the old RPS. A National Generation Resource Diversity Standard should go beyond a special subset of traditional renewable energies. I want to aim higher. Let’s capture the benefits of fuel diversification, technology development, climate change mitigation, energy independence, and overall energy savings because these benefits do not belong only to an RPS.